If I Had My Own Blue Box:

Soft Crown Bonnets – 1858-60

From Grahams, July 1858: “Tuscan bonnets are in great favor, and are generally trimmed with wild flowers and oats, or with a large rose, foliage and buds; sometimes with a tulle trimming, embroidered with jet, and finished with a brown fringe; a brown silk curtain and brown strings. Young ladies wear white crape bonnets, ornamented with ruches and loops of white ribbon, inside; acrss the head there is a bandeau formed of a red rose surrounded with wheat ears and grass. Many bonnets are made of a soft crown of spotted tulle; the edge of pink crape, with blonde falling over the front, and a bouquet of white and pink roses on the left side. A bandeau of the same roses crosses above the forehead, inside of the bonnet.”

From Arthur’s Home Magazine, February 1860: “The latest style of bonnet is the soft crown. It is not generally adopted here, but is coming in. It is our province to keep the readers of the Home Magazine apprised of what is the reigning mode, and as nearly as we can – to indicate to them the tendency of the fickle goddess, Fashion.”
From Arthur’s Home Magazine , March 1860: “The plain style of bonnet with soft crown and distinguished in form, is aldo in vogue. It is large and plain in the border all round; but it has a cache of elegance, owing to the flat appearance of the plaited crown.”
Arthur’s Home Magazine , May1860: “The soft crown was of plaits of straw and green silk, alternating. Each ear-ring was of massive gold, in the form of a ring two inches in diameter, like an infinitesimal cart-tire with the outer edge chased.”

From Draper and Clothier, May 1860: “And in the same house, we saw a rice-straw bonnet, with soft crown of plaited tulle. A ruche of mauve ribbon across the front. A bow with rather long ends behind. In the cap, small bunches of lilac all round the face. Wide mauve ribbon strings.”

From Draper and Clothier, June 1860: “A very pretty bonnet has a soft crown of white crape, covered with black spotted tulle, and the front consisting of plain white straw. The trimming, on the outside, is a tuft of red rosebuds, in the inside of the trimming consists of a demi-bandeaux formed of loops of black ribbon, finished at the each end by tufts of rosebuds like those on the outside of each bonnet.”

The Marie Stuart bonnet appears in both American and European (London and Paris) publications during the Civil War. The distinctive Marie Stuart shape of the crown varies in the depth of the dip as well as the curviness of the dip. The overall size of the bonnet varies, as does the width. In general, bonnets become smaller late in the war (while emphasising height). Some Marie Stuart bonnets seem to narrow though the sides as well.

“The Important Subject of Bonnets, and the form they are likely to assume during the forth coming summer, is still a disputed point. Will they continue to be worn high, or are we to wear Marie Stuarts? are questions anxiously asked, but which as yet nobody can answer with any degree of certainty. All we can say on the  subject is, that we have not as yet seen the Marie Stuart bonnets adopted at any of the fashionable resorts, although we are constantly assured, on what would generally be considered reliable authority, that nothing else is to be worn. In Paris the same indecision prevails; the ladies of the Court and of the Chaussee d’Antin continue to wear the high upright bonnets, while the fair denizens of Faubourhs Saint-Germain and Saint Honore have all adopted the Marie Stuart form – not the decided Marie Stuart with a pointed front, as the title would indicate, but with the front slightly coming forward and lowered, imparting a very modest quiet appearance to the wearer – so much so that French milliners have christened this form “The Quaker bonnet.” But one thing is certain, whether the Marie Stuarts are ultimately adopted in London or not, and that is that all the newest forms are made much smaller and less exaggerated, and follow more closely the outline of the face than was the case a month or six weeks ago.” Arthur’s Home Magazine, July 1863

The later war years finds these references:

“One was of black tulle, and of the Marie Stuart form; a fringe of bugles was placed round the front. This bonnet was covered with a fanchon of white guipure. In place of the curtain was a puffing of black tulle, on which were fastened a few black cherries drooping on to the back hair. The strings were of broad black ribbon; over the ends was a broad patte of quipure. A white tulle scarf was fastened under the fanchon of lace, and tied under the chin, over the strings.” (La Follet, July 1864)

“Bonnet of crape. Curtain covered with lace. At the edge of the front is a scarf, with a bunch of flowers on the top. Marie Stuart pointe, edged with lace, falling over the flowers in the cap, and strings of ribbon.” (La Follet, March 1864)

Here is a survey of fashion illustrations, CDVs and extant Marie Stuart bonnets to accompany my newest bonnet on Etsy – This fashionable Marie Stuart Straw Bonnet.

Variations of the Marie Stuart shaping to millinery appear in caps and bonnets off and on through the century.

In the years just prior to the Civil War we see the Marie Stuart bonnet reammerge along side the cottage bonnet and the spoon bonnet:

“Marie Stuart bonnets of white crape or lisse are very distinguished, ornamented only with a fall of very fine guipure lace, thrown back from the front and extending over the curtain. In Paris black ribbon is associated with blue, green or groseille in the decoration of rice, straw, chip or Leghorn bonnets.” (Frank Leslie’s New Family Magazine, August,1858)

“The shape if the bonnet is of the Marie Stuart genre, approaching near the forehead in front, and (evasee) sprung our at the sides, the ears being long and edged with lace, very narrowly. The brides or strings are of blue and white diagonal striped taffetas.” (Arthur’s Illustrated Home Magazine, February 1859)

Marie Stuart Bonnet

“There are two shapes of bonnets which divide favor nearly equally; these are the Cottage and Marie Stuart patterns. The latter is distinguished for flaring away from the side of the head and rising to a point at the top of the head three inches back from the forehead. Milliners, who have a supply of bonnet foundations without the point in front are forming it of other material, which proves that bonnets which are not of the cottage shape must have a pointed border over the forehead, or they are ignored by our demoiselles.” (Arthur’s Illustrated Home Magazine, March 1859)

The Marie Stuart is, by most of our Milliners, regarded as the only style; but the Cottage Bonnet, with shirred crown, and the cap crown, is silently and surely winning its way for the next rage.” (Arthur’s Illustrated Home Magazine, May 1859)

For those wondering “Why this shape?”, here is a painting of Mary Stuart showing her distinctive millinery.

The “Maybe or Maybe nots”….. There are some bonnets that may or may not be Marie Stuart bonnets. If only we could actually hold them.

This bonnet from the MET’s collection may be a Marie Stuart or it may just have a squashed brim. The top of the brim does dip slightly creating a shallow curve in.

This image comes from The Graceful Lady. I wish I could get a closer look.

Straw bonnet from the Greene Collection at the Genesee Country Village

~~~This is one of the many wonderful bonnets found in the Susan Greene Collection at the Genesee Country Village. (To see some of their ribbons, be sure to hop over to the Millinery Ribbon Blog.)   ~~~ This straw bonnet shows a great many things from the over-all spoon bonnet shape to the shape of the cheektabs to the fineness of the straw. I would like us to look at the bavolet today. We also know the bavolet as the “curtain.”  The bavolet is a fabric or ribbon pleated into the back neckline edge of a bonnet. This can resemble a flounce in that the top is drawn in while the lower edge floats or flares out. The bavolet can, but does not need to be a single material as we see here. It can be made of layers of silk, net and lace. Some high-end fashion plates show beading as well. (Honestly, I don’t think I could handle beads dangling on my neck.)

~~~The construction seams on the underside are covered by a net. Net is used to give the silk bavolet more body and fullness. It is sewn so the net is not seen from the outside and pleated into the bavolet.  The bavolet reaches all the way around the back of the bonnet (the tip) and up along the sides while the lower edge connects to the cheektabs.

*The section of ribbon that decorates the exterior of the bonnet can be on the grain or on the bias. The ties need to be on the grain. To see a nice example of the ribbon decorating over the top of the bonnet, see this MFA example that happens to have the bavolet on the grain. Notice how the bavolet flops more than floats.